this is the 1980s. what did we learn today? we learned. >> i just tweeted what i learned. political figures from their high school days. check out for the link and the david axelrod photo. >> what did you learn? part the tenth anniversary of the iraq war and no war ever unfolds the way they say it will. >> we did a great piece in crystallizing the decisions that people made before, during, and after the war. >> it's tough. nobody knows what's going to happen. we can also show caution for it. all right. thank you guys so much for watching and beware. your high school photo may be popping up on the screen any time soon. here i am.

in journalism class. if it's way too early, what time is it? >> it's "morning joe." featuring best host anchorman. ju young luke russert. >> ten years later the iraq war changed the mideast, but not in the way initial supporters thought it would. proep francis officially begins his term as leader of the catholic church. we will go live to the vatican for the changes. >> gay marriage advocates find an ally in former secretary of state hillary clinton. what does the push tell us about future political plans? >> it's tuesday, march 19th, 2013. "the daily rundown." i'm luke russert in for chuck todd who just landed in israel.

we start with breaking news out of nevada where six u.s. marines have been kill and eight wounded in an explosion that occurred in a training exercise overnight at the army's hawthorne depot and storage facility in western nevada. we go now for the latest. jim, was this an accident or did somebody do something wrong? >> it was clearly an accident according to u.s. military officials who say that the six marines were killed and eight others wounded in a live fire training exercise at the hawthorne army depot early this morning. according to the officials, there several accounts. one that has the marines loaded and a 16-millimeter mortar shell and it exploded then.

the round may have exploded as the marines were picking it up and taking it to them. according to the officials, four were killed instantly and two others died while waiting to be medivaced out. two are reported in critical condition. they have been take tone a trauma center? reno, nevada. two others have been taken to a local hospital. the accident is obviously under investigation. this is a grim reminder that these military operations are a very risky, dangerous business whether in or out of that combat zone. >> jim miklaszewski with that news from the pentagon. we appreciate it. turning to the big anniversary, a decade has passed as the u.s. launched a war in iraq. here's how george w. bush broke the news on march 19th, 2003. >> my fellow citizens, at this

hour, american and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm iraq and free its people and defend the world from grave danger. >> within a month, baghdad had fallen, but the war dragged on. casualties spike in subsequent years and in early 2006, the bombing of a mosque led to a wave of sectarian violence. president obama vowed an exit strategy to fulfill a promise and ended the mission before christmas, 2011. richard engle was there. >> after invasion, a civil war and a surge and a training mission, for the first time, u.s. military command no longer has a presence here in iraq. this is now a sovereign nation. >> richard spent eight years in iraq. he is in another key part of the

region in israel. he is waiting for president obama who arrives in jerusalem tomorrow morning. good morning. >> good to be with you. >> i want to ask you, we sit here ten years later and you spent a tremendous amount of time in that part of the world. what is our standing in the world now after the invasion of iraq and obviously what we said was going to happen, we were going to sprout up with democracies and did not occur right away. there was a revolution in libya and other areas. what is our standing right now? >> the peak of u.s. power was probably right after the u.s. invasion. the u.s. went in and toppled saddam hussein and iran was frightened at the time. the syrian regime was worried that tanks would start heading out of baghdad and go to damascus. once the civil war began in iraq

and sunnis and shiites started to fight and american troops were caught in the quagmyre, there was invincibility that started to break. right now we are in a situation where events are taking place so quickly, the united states is not a factor right now. the u.s. looked weak in iraq and now in egypt and libya and syria, the rebels and revolutionary movements that are trying to become stable democratic movements or stable islamic movements are operating at a pace that is not 1 that the united states is controlling. if you look back from the start of the iraq war, you can see a decline in american influence in the region. >> just today there is over 50 iraqis killed and sectarian violence andry that is

very much divided. there is some worry on the ground that maliki is saddam husseinesque and putting the fear among sunni groups and he can turn on them at any time. from what you know, what is the common day to day in a place like iraq. especially the major cities like those places that saw so much violence. what's the average feeling on a day to day basis ten years later? >> the sectarian war is back in iraq. right now what you are seeing is the emergence of three almost separate countries in iraq. is a shiite state run by the prime minister of maliki to iran that feels this is a moment in its religious journey of shiite muslims. that contains important shiite religious sites.

in the sunni heartland areas of fallujah which was invaded twice by u.s. forces to try to get down radical sunni extremists, some linked to al qaeda. you have a new sense of sunni identity. they feel threatened by the state of maliki. they feel that the americans came in and drove them from power. saddam hussein was a sunni. they fuel after ruling iraq for 1400 years, they have suddenly been driven from power. they are also looking to sunnis just to the north in syria and you can see that there is a bit of a feeling of sunni continuity that stretches from fallujah all the way up to the city that is an entire region in conflict. the third part that is emerging is effectively a kurdish state. the dream of curd stan is a

reality. in iraq right now in baghdad is very violent today with more than a dozen attacks with more than 50 people. it almost is that there is no unified state in the country anymore. three straight states that are not at peace with each other. >> you are in israel, another nation where the u.s. influence diminished. this is a historic visit for president obama to go over there. prime minister netanyahu, his party did not farewell in the last elections. both men seem to be tied up with a lot of doe mostic affairs. what is the sense with president obama coming over there and he ran the central issue for common israelis these days. >> well, the bond between the united states and israel is still very strong even if the personal chemistry between netanyahu and president obama is

not strong and it has been widely reported they don't have a very good working relationship. one of the main reasons for coming not just to israel, but jordan and the west bank right now. that was for the united states to shore up friends. the united states still as a friend of israel. if you look back at the larger regional issues, the chaos around us. the united states is worried about its friends and that israel is surrounded by an increasingly hostile region and egypt is no longer a reliable ally and jordan could face their own internal threats and syria on the border is in a state of chaos and mayhem and iran is also working on its nuclear program and the united states wants to come give a hug to israel. wants to make sure that the palestinian authority with abbas

is being strengthened because it's overshadowed by hamas. he wants to make sure the kingdom doesn't fall. it's really about settling and shoring up your friends in these uncertain times. >> the issue of iran, we are at war here in the united states and a lot of what's coming out of israel is coming out of that part of the world. iran could have a nuclear weapon. some say months and some say years. what is the appetite for air strikes on iran among those in israel. is there an expectation that president obama hints that that would be allowed on that type of visit? >> the israelis themselves are divided on this issue. it is one that netanyahu has spoken about publicly and famously in the un. he said the iranians will act

soon. he will use military force to prevent the iranians from gaining a nuclear weapon. the president said he is likely to repeat that. the israelis themselves are divided on the issue. a lost israelis don't want more enemies in the region. they see what's happening in egypt and syria and don't think it's necessary to pick another hot war with iran. it is just a matter of time for iran and their enemy to develop a weapon that would be an existential threat to the state of israel. >> we thank you so much for joining us and we appreciate it. we have to commend you for the article in "vanity fair." well written. take care. up next, we will go live to charleston, south carolina for a house primary that could lead to mark sanford heading back to washington. another shift on gay marriage. hillary clinton declares her

support in a video that could have 2016 implications. a look ahead at today's politics planner. you are watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. interesting matchup there. liberty, a very political university. [ male announcer ] every famous curve

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. >> per if it's tuesday, somebody is voting somewhere. today it's south carolina's first congressional district where former governor mark sanford is trying to make a political come back. >> you step in with more than a

bit of fear and trepidation. you knew you blue it and everybody knows you did. it's been out there. i don't know whether i am to win or lose, but i feel like i'm supposed to be crawling back on to this larger playing field i stepped away from for a couple of years. >> sanford faces 15 fellow republicans to fill tim scott's old house seat. this is just round one. nbc's kelly o'donnell joins us. kelly, sanford got the status after his ex-wife said she would not run for the same seat. they theeld to you. tell us what will happen here. you should win this run off and no slam yunk that he would win it after that. >> with so many candidates, it's hard to know where the numbers

will break beyond sanford and how well he will do. there is this presumption when you talk to voters. people say they like what he did as governor and they are willing to forgive his personal mistakes. you heart in our interview, he has been very open about his failings here. he talked to me at great length about how fearful he was to get in the race and he tried to burn shoe leather by shaking as many hands and trying to have as many conversations with people in the hope they will support him again. some rivals for this that are office holders and other jobs here around the state feel like he had his chance and it should be their time. this has been fiercely contested. he told me in south caroline a senators and these are his words, go out in body bags meaning nobody gives up their seat. when jim demint stepped aside, this opening brought out so many people who wanted to run.

what happens? if there is the top two and sanford is in it, there is a run off and then facing the democratic candidate who is believed to be elizabeth colbert bush. this is a heavily republican district and it's not clear how voters will respond. those we talked to say they are willing to look past some of the sanford's problems. one other republican said how they would stack up. is there enough of a vote? it has been fun to be in charleston where they love politics and everybody is talking about this. >> only in south carolincarolin. thank you so much for being on the show. appreciate it. take care. a day after republicans revealed a 98-page autopsy on what went wrong in 2012, the effort to modernize the party is getting conservative push back.

rush limbaugh lashed out at party chairman who said focus groups of voters found the gop to be scary, narrow minded, and out of touch in a party of stuffy old men. >> the republicans are just totally bamboozled right now and entirely lacking in confidence. they think they got landslide and they didn't. the republican party lost because it's not conservative. it didn't get the base out. >> meanwhile the rand paul of the party reacted angrily. eliminate caucuses and limit debates that they believe are aimed at hurting canned days outside the establish am. one said elimination of caucuses would mean nuclear war with the grass roots social conservatives and the ron paul movement. nbc editor mark murray is here with the morning's first read.

good morning to you. stern words there obviously from the adviser to rand paul and the paul campaign. what's going on within the gop? they had this autopsy and the establish movement by the rnc trying to modernize the party and saying we will move on immigration and not be the party of old white men. in order to do that, they could have changes that could change the way we look at the primary. they want to get rid of caucuses and take that power away from the grass roots. >> two big areas of push back. 1 that you hit upon and reducing the debates and influence that caucuses have. it ends up hurting folks like rand paul and the people who might be eying a 2016 presidential bid. i need the debates and the caucuses to be able to have that kind of candidates.

the other part that we have been getting is the rnc's endorsement of immigration reform. they are now basically saying we support what president obama is trying to do. we support what the bipartisan senators are trying to do. not every republican agrees with that. >>or that point, rand paul had on immigration where he came out in favor of reform. he said if you wish to live and work in america, we will find a place for you. my plan will not move anyone to the front of line, but what we have is de facto amnesty. a 13-year plan. a lot of us thought he would go to the right, but he said there has to be a better plan. is there an opening on the republican primary for someone to come in there. it would be the immigration candidate again? >> there is. a lot of people say if you end

up getting a law that is passed, one person we mentioned with rick santorum that opposes immigration reform would be able to have that space and go after the rand pauls and marco rubios. he 13 hour filibuster. who would have thought he had the two top finishers with rand paul and marco rubio on board with the comprehensive reform. >> rand paul is the leader that ron paul never had. that last race that kelly o'donnell reported on, it's no slam dunk at all that he would go on to win. he pieced that 35%. >> if he gets close to 50 and i don't think a lot of people are expecting that, he is in good shape for the april 2nd run off. he is around 30 to 35%. 60 to 65% who are anti-sanford

he has to win in the run off. >> it will be fascinating and we thank you so much for joining us. we continue to follow breaking news out of nevada. seven marines have died as a result of a live fire training accident. the ammunition storage facility in western nevada, at least seven others were injured in a training exercise overnight. we will keep an update on that throughout the show. next, on the 10-year anniversary of the invasion of iraq, we will talk to lawmakers, who served in baghdad and one who voted to authorize the war. first today's trivia question. who was the first sitting president to visit jordan? the first person to tweet the correct question will get an on air shout out only on tdo. hi i'm terry, and i have diabetic nerve pain.

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it's been ten years since the u.s. invaded iraq and 15 months since the combat missionened. the war rages o. the cost was extraordinary. 4400 dead and 32,000 wounded. the defense department reports $32 billion has been spent since 2003. tom cotton served as a platoon leader. as a fiscal conservative i asked if it was right to take the country to war without asking the americans to shoulder more of the financial burden. >> the american people have paid a great price for the ishlgs rack w iraq war. many more who served and the toll it took on their families.

today is the day we should remember their sacrifices and they deposed a dictator and freed 30 million arabs and set up a way. national security is the first priority of the u.s. government, i think the war was worth it. we have to preserve the gains we achieved over the last ten years and beyond, but i think the war is worth it. >> do you think the war is to blame for the deficits we see these days? >> no. it's really not. if you look at where defense spending is today either as a percentage of the economy or budget, it's below post-war norms. under the president's budget it will fall more rapidly. the main cause that we saw today of the explosive growth in spending over ten years, president obama made that worse although the republicans in congress ten years ago didn't

cover themselves and the changing face of america. we have many more now supported by workers for the retirement programs and a noble important purpose. they need to be preserved for the next generation. >> you are a proud veteran and something i find to be interesting to some degree of polling is the lack of availability for benefits for those who have served so nobly and come home. i want to put up the stats for you. veterans affairs data. 600,000 veterans have benefits and 245,000 have benefitings back lock logged aier or more. the average is 273 days. the first time claimants from iraq and afghanistan, the average wait is 316 days. how come if you go out and fight for your country and bleed and come back wounded, you are waiting up to a year to get benefits?

>> i think it's a result of still trying to process the large surge that we have had in veterans over the last years because of the 9/11 attacks. my interactions with officials at the department of veterans affairs from the eastern leaders in washington down to the frontline officers in arkansas is that they are motivated and dedicated civil servants. many are veterans themselves. we had many new programs to benefit the gi bill and still working out the best practices and tried to clear the backlogs. they are troubling, but it's a matter of identifying the best practices and not a matter of the resources or the desire of anyone in congress or the differently veterans affairs or civil society. the companies like wal-mart and my home state. they started a program to any veteran who clears a background check and the leadership skills that they bring to every walk of

life. >> i will get you out of here with this one. mark pryor is a vulnerable democrat. freedom works and club for growth are going after them. you are a young guy at 35 and double degree. a rising star in the republican party. politico said you are the guy most likely to succeed. are you taking a run at senate in 2014? >> i'm not as young as you are, but i'm trying to address the challenges we face in the house. plenty of time for politics later this year and in the meantime, i'm doing the work. >> thinking about it? >> right now just thinking about the sacrifices of our veterans that started ten years ago. >> indeed. thank you very much for your service to the military. thanks for coming on. take care. >> congress played a key in the march to approve the use of force in iraq in 2002.

dick gephardt was one democrat who voted yes. >> iraq is unique and it's a unique response. a full discussion of the policy must come at another time. >> washington democratic congressman adam smith signed on to the iraq resolution. he joins me now. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me on. >> do you regret that? >> i do, yes. obviously with the iraq war playing out, the sheer cost over years was far greater than any of us wanted to pay. there were a lost complicated issues at that time. the vote was not to say we are going to war. it was to authorize the president with the hope that we would force iraq into a coercive inspection and then of course in december, they voted for that. they went to war anyway.

once we got the inspections in december, there was no need to go to war. the president had his agenda and it was naive to think he would not follow-through no matter what happened. clearly it's vote that i wish i had. that's the nature of the process. i learned a lot from that. >> a question that i wanted to pose is for those who fought in the war who did their service to the nation, it's difficult for them to get the service they need. average wait time 273 days to get information and service from the veterans affairs bureau. why do you think that is in a country as rich as ours? >> it is unacceptable. it is because of the large number of people applying for those. you have to surge to meet that. you have to have the personnel they are ready for. one of the things i have from the start, they raised taxes to be prepared to pay for the cost of war and not cut them dramatically as we did. i think we didn't dot part we

should have in terms of proiing revenue to make sure we can pay for this. the cost of war is well-understood. this should not be a prize. we make sure we had the personnel available to make sure the benefits get processed. >> ten years later, the big take away from the american involvement in iraq, do you think this left an imprint on the generations of americans that war should be the last possible thing to be considered? >> absolutely. iraq was a complicated situation. even when we went to war, we had a no-fly zone. the iraq military was shooting at us every day. saddam hussein is not sustainable. it was a very difficult situation to figure out what to do. i think what we learned is no matter how difficult the situation is, understand the cost of stepping across the line and going to war.

it is an enormous cost. i hope you will keep that cost in mind before we rush to judgment on how to deal with the situation. >> the armed services committee, thank you very much for joining us. take care. >> thank you. >> we will go live to the vatican. you are watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. hmm, we need a new game. ♪ that'll save the day. ♪ so will bounty select-a-size. it's the smaller powerful sheet. the only one with trap + lock technology. look! one select-a-size sheet of bounty is 50% more absorbent than a full size sheet of the leading ordinary brand. use less. with the small but powerful picker upper, bounty select-a-size. use less. with the small but powerful picker upper, when you lost the thing you can't believe you lost.. when what you just bought,

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especially the vatican. how does the pomp and circumstance look? >> right now i see a great clean up job going on because it's all over, but it was an incredible pomp and circumstance as you said. there were representatives from 133 nations and many different faiths as you mentioned vice president joe biden who say strong catholic himself was here leading the american delegation. what strikes most of us will be several hundred thousand regular people, so to speak, who came early in the morning to catch a glimpse of this pope, perhaps even to touch him because as you may know you have seen images of the pope going out and touching people, hugging them and today you saw a man hoist his baby up for the pope to kiss. this is a different kind of pope. one who is more of the parish

priest-type pope. he was there in simple garments today. he spoke beautifully in a profound homily. >> as a catholic, you had a term that i love. the parish priest. this pope seems to have a real comfort when he is out amongst the people. he likes interacting and touching hands and hugging people and interacting with people. kind of a change from what we have seen in the past. was that spirit felt there at the inauguration today? >> it was felt today and these past couple of days. images when he went to mass and touching people and reaching out and smiling. he went to the audience and off the cuff and started laughing and talking and explaining why he chose the name of francis. he has a natural way about him, but make no mistake, this is a

tough job that he's got. these last couple of days are the honeymoon phase. he will have to use that parish priest appeal and use that jesuit stealness to put this place in order. >> so far the retail politics seem to be doing her job. maria shriver from the vatican city. appreciate it. >> thanks, luke. nice to see you. >> take care. a deep dive into how they changed the course of history at home paving the way for obama's election. first, the white house soup of the day. split pea. run down.msnbc.com. we'll be right back.

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policy, but made a mark on politics here at home as well. before leaving for israel, chuck took a dive into the change on national security. >> ten years ago today that president george w. bush ordered a decapitation strike on iraqi president saddam hussein. we look at the fallout not overseas, but here at home. without iraq, harry reid and nancy pelosi may never rise to power and barack obama may still be in the senate and not the white house. president george w. bush's approval numbers hit 71% as the country rallies around the troops and a war sold as critical to protecting us and ending weapons of mass destruction. those numbers slip and down to 45%. by the spring of 06, it was down to 37%, roughly half what it was

when the war began. it wasn't just the president who suffered what we saw, but the demise of the neoconservative world view. vice president cheney and rumsfeld in which the u.s. sought out enemies and used force to spread democracy. >> the establishment of a free iraq at the heart of the middle east will be a water shed event in the global democratic revolution. >> what americans saw was a bleed quagmyre that destroyed the credibility on those who promoted it and the republican party as a whole. it spikeed from 486 to more than 2100 by the end of 2005. in the mid-term opposition led to a crushing defeat for republican who is lost both the house and senate. any question that the war played when secretary rumsfeld resigned

under pressure. democrats pounced on the issue, seeing an opportunity to gain ground on security issues. no one did it better than a young senator named barack obama who took aim at president bush and his team during his first presidential campaign. >> i'm not running to join the kind of washington group think that led us to war in iraq. i'm running to change our politics and policies to leave the world a better place. >> remember who the chief rival was? hillary clinton voted for the war in iraq. president obama is still in the white house and democrats still control the senate and republicans have struggled to find the balance on america's overseas. john mccain advocating far more aggressive stances in places like syria while rand paul, a potential 2016 candidate is calling for the opposite. >> i would argue that a more

restrained policy is the true conservative foreign policy as it includes two tenants of true conservatism. respect and fiscal discipline. instead of large land wars, we would, when necessary, target our enemy and strike with lethal force. >> when it comes to watching change shift, think about national security. national security was at the heart and soul of the republican party at least for about a generation and a half and democrats owned the national security issue for years. republican his to rely on general in order to gain credibility on foreign policy issues in the 50s. it took the vietnam war and then the iran hostage situation for democrats to lose that. republicans and bush and iraq lost that and it hurt the party and still hasn't recovered ever since.

lots of people lost lives. the political impact is something that history should not ignore in this country. mr. russert, back to you. i will see you live tomorrow. >> thank you, chuck. this friday catch the msnbc documentary hubris: selling the iraq war, with our own rachel maddow. friday at 9:00 p.m. here on msnbc. we asked who was the first sitting president to visit jordan? the answer is nixon. he traveled and met with king hussein and congratulations to today's winner conor cahill. we'll be right back. go beyond basic cleansing? olay ultra moisture body wash can with more moisturizers than seven bottles of the leading body wash. with ultra moisture your body wash is anything but basic. soft, smooth skin with olay.

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like so many others my personal views have been shaped over time by people i have known and loved. by my experience representing

our nation on the world stage, my devotion to law and human rights and the guiding principles of my faith. >> that was former secretary of state hillary clinton announcing monday she now supports same sex marriage. let's bring in our tuesday gaggle. thank you all for joining us. we appreciate it. i want to go to you right off the bat. 2004, gay marriage a pivotal issue. a lot of folks said it gave george w. bush the election along with national security in 2004. now the country supports it, 58-37. obviously rob portman moved in legalizing same sex marriage. do you think that is something the republican party has to do over the next four years or maybe 8 to 12 years down the line? >> probably longer than four years but you are seeing a shift in the party and the country. a lot has to do with the fact that as more gays and lesbians become more comfortable with telling their friends and family about their true identity it's very hard on a personal level

when you love somebody who's a friend or a brother or sister to then say to them i don't think you should have any rights. and so more americans including more republicans have those experiences with the people that are closest to them. >> chris, you think this is an issue democrats will pounce on? they did to some degree in 2012. could it be a winner in 2016 when the country seems to be on their side? >> it is kind of interesting when you think about social issues and how they define elections, particularly presidential elections tended to be a little moraine advantage for republicans. the country has moved in a more progressive direction on the key issues -- gay marriage, abortion, immigration. republicans still kind of stuck debating them and we're kind of moving forward where the country is. in that sense, it becomes a political issue because it's a defining difference. >> david, put it in perspective. it's quite an amazing 180 from where the country was in 2003, ten years ago, should be illegal, 36 -- basically flipped. i mean, put that in the context

of just the political climate which we live in. it's pretty significant. >> you saw the president struggling with himself. he came in and said he was evolving for two or three years. people kept asking and he didn't want to shift. then last year during the heart of the election, probably a calculated decision to come out at that time but the president expressed his support for gay marriage and is doing so now. the president has come out pretty strong and said if he was on the supreme court he would strike down all the state laws. he is saying he isn't going to lobby for that, it's not his place, but it is going to be a state level thing but if the state does strike down the defense of marriage act i think you'll keep seeing a faster shift. >> a fascinating thing to see in a political sense. we don't have a lot of time today. apologies for that. let's go around the table for shameless plugs. we'll start with you. >> this one is easy. i'm going to plug all the veterans that fought in the war. i mean, we can disagree about the war but their sacrifices i think are something we can all honor every day. >> indeed. >> i want to second that and plug my former colleague and

friend pete waner who had a great piece in "commentary" magazine yesterday worth the read. >> we'll check it out. >> of course i agree with what chris said and also the journalists who served, "the washington post", office destroyed in baghdad during the years we've been covering it, and we have a great piece today on where we stand in iraq right now. a great read. >> with the budgets cut there are less embedded journalists. they are all heroes to us. that is it for this edition of "the daily rundown." my plug i'm hosting andrea's show as well so check us out at 1:00 p.m. toll we'll hear from chuck in israel and we'll have full coverage of the president's trip throughout the week, a history maker. up next on nbc chris jansing & co. thanks so much for watching. take care.

here is your business travel forecast. i'm meteorologist bill karins. a very impressive late season snowstorm still hitting new england all day today through this evening. especially up into the mountains of vermont and new hampshire and maine possibility of 1 to 2 feet of snow. boston to springfield 4 to 6 inches possible. a little more around the worcester hills. be careful driving and traveling in new england.